TT100 Adjudicators

TT100 uses a unique adjudication process to assess what drives companies that demonstrate excellence in the management of innovation and technology. This is based on The Da Vinci Institute’s trademarked TIPS framework – referring to the management of Technology, Innovation, People and Systems. The adjudicators come from a diversity

The adjudicators come from a diversity of industries and sectors, including academia, auditing, banking, energy, retail, telecommunications and technology.

The TT100 adjudication panel consists of the following members:

Benjamin Anderson

Ben has worked in various teaching and management positions at the University of the Free State between 1991 and 2000. He joined FNB, where he was involved in staff development since 2001, and eventually served as the Chief Learning Officer of FNB from 2003 to 2005 when he became the first (and still current) Chief Executive Officer/Vice President of The Da Vinci Institute.

Bradley Coward

Not your average CIO Bradley has a bias for action and a level of digitization savvy that has brought huge success within the organisations he has worked. His M&A integration expertise coupled to a transformational CIO trait has made him a standout visionary leader. Bradley began his career in IT during 1986 when he joined an international management consultancy. Initially, his undergraduate studies had led him first into the technical side of mining in the early.

Isaiah Engelbrecht

Isaiah is an author, teacher, speaker, coach, entrepreneur and “craftsman” (business solutions creator). Isaiah plays a leading role in the advancement of innovation in the country and is a founding thought leader and previous chairperson of the South African Innovation Network (SAINe-www.saine.co.za).

Mark Fuller

Mark has consulted both locally and internationally on Lean thinking strategy and processes, having developed over 30 programs and run over 850 workshops and seminars. As a serial entrepreneur Mark has helped establish 5 separate businesses, was a founding member of UPSA (United Professional Sales Association of South Africa), certified ICF coach, SDF and Facilitator.

Jon Harris

I was born and educated in the UK and studied initially as a scientist specialising in Polymer Physics. After completing my PhD in 1972, I changed course and joined Tube Investments Ltd in the UK as a Systems Analyst in the Management Services Division. This exposed me to the use of computers in addressing business problems. I moved to South Africa in 1975 and worked for 2 years for Computer Sciences Sigma Ltd as a Systems Analyst before moving to Irvin and Johnson as IT Manager in 1977. In 1986 I moved to Plessey SA Ltd also as IT Manager and established the IT infrastructure for the company from scratch. In 1998 I moved back to the UK to work as Operations Manager for a small company servicing the Motor Insurance industry returning to South Africa in 2000. I joined Deloitte and Touche as a Recruitment Consultant. In 2002 a group of us left Deloitte to form our own recruitment consulting company which evolved into Executive ABAC Talenting. I retired in 2012 and have been working as a Senior Recruitment Consultant to my former company since then focusing on senior Academic positions in secondary and tertiary education.

Sean Laval

I have over 10 years experience in board-level electronic system design for the telecoms, security, mining and vehicle tracking sectors. Recently, I have been involved in setting up national low-power wireless networks to address the growing demand for IoT connectivity.

Shirley Lloyd

I have been involved in education and training since graduating from the University of Pretoria in 1973. In my career pathway, I have been a teacher, a lecturer, a principal of colleges, an inspector of education, a senior manager in a SETA, a deputy director in SAQA; and now a director in the Department of Higher Education and Training. I have been privileged to have served in diverse and many Committees, council, working groups, task teams and the Technical Committee for Accreditation and Certification and as a current Council member of the Da Vinci Institute. I am passionate about social justice, and all my work is underpinned by the drive to see old and young benefit from an improved and innovative education and training system which will provide them with the knowledge, skills and competence to have decent work and to become economically empowered.

Godrey Mashamba

Currently responsible for the production of national surveys on R&D and innovation statistics to monitor the performance of the science and technology sector; as well as the implementation of the R&D tax incentive to promote private sector R&D investment in South Africa. Previously with DTI. Apart from programme implementation, led several studies and reviews in areas of financing/ incentives for industrial investment, SMEs as well as research and technology development.

Henra Mayer

Henra Mayer is the CEO of Innocentrix (Pty) Ltd, an innovation and ideas company that helps their clients to create, engage, and deliver the future. Innocentrix aims to assist clients to bring innovation to life, aligning strategic imperatives to drive results and build successful innovation eco-systems that showcase the impact of innovation. She currently serves as TT100 (Top Technology 100) panellist and acts as an adjudicator for various innovation competitions. Henra is currently the Head of Faculty, Innovation, at the Da Vinci Institute and she holds a BA degree from UP as well as a qualification in Business Leadership (PBL) and a Masters Degree in Business Leadership (MBL) from UNISA.

Sechaba Motsieloa

Sechaba was the CEO at Magna Carta Reputation Management Consultants from September 2016 to August 2017.

In his previous role, he was the Corporate Affairs Director at McDonald’s South Africa responsible for McDonald’s corporate reputation both internally and externally. He also looked after other disciplines in the business including HR, Payroll, Talent, Benefit and Compensation. He joined McDonald’s in 2004 as a Marketing Manager and a year later was promoted to Marketing and Communications Director. In this role, he was accountable for the Communications & PR, Business & Consumer Insights, as well as the overall Marketing strategies in support of the country’s long-term business and financial goals. Sechaba holds an Honours Degree in Social Science (Organizational Psychology) from the University of Cape Town and is also a Chartered Marketer. He is the Chairman of the Council of the Da Vinci Institute and also Chairman of the Marketing Association of South Africa (MA) SA.

David Murray

Cape Venture Partners (CVP) consists of 4 highly experienced partners who understand what it takes for an entrepreneur to achieve commercial success. As such, CVP has an advisory business that advises on strategy, operations, finance and sales & marketing issues, specifically for high growth entrepreneurs. In addition, M&A advice is a key part of the offering, including business valuations, share transactions, capital raising and exits. The CVP partners are also entrepreneurs and investors in their own right and have started and launched a number of ventures. These include Texforce, which developed large-scale alternative energy projects, and Radio 021, which won the bid for the new Cape radio station licence (now launched as Smile90.4 FM), CVP retains a shareholding. CVP has also been instrumental in assisting in technology transfer from Universities, as IP is commercialised, Azargen is an example of a successful spin out. As a partner at Cape Venture Partners for the last 12 years, David has worked with and advised many entrepreneurs, mostly in the technology arena. Some of his recent engagements include HYSA Catalysis (Hydrogen South Africa, a JV between UCT Chemical Engineering, Mintek and DST, CCI (Competitive Capabilities International, owners of TRACC continuous improvement), MiningMX, an online mining publication, and Ensight, multi-channel digital marketing software. Past engagements include RACEC, a listed Rail infrastructure company, Denis (dental management, Wild Africa Cream, and a large number of early-stage technology ventures, including Skyrove, Hot Platinum, Niocad, Cybercellar, Nclose, and Bizcommunity. Training roles included the VeloCITI, MyMentor and Bio-Entrepreneurs programmes David is passionate about developing entrepreneurs and helping them overcome the many challenges associated with a high growth business.

Jayesh Reddy

Jayesh Reddy has served in several senior managerial positions as well as, as a business advisor in various industries. He has built up an admirable track record of success in these roles. In addition, Jayesh has worked as a freelance facilitator at the Da Vinci Institute where he has facilitated modules related to Systems Thinking and Management of Technology in the Certificate, Diploma, BCom and Masters degree programmes (as per NQF standards). Jayesh has also played a role in assessing studentsâ€™ proposals for their Masters dissertations. Jayesh has extensive experience in the fields of Healthcare IT, Software and Support Services; Retail (Operations – FMCG); Online Retail (Systems & Operations) which has enabled him to build up considerable knowledge, competencies and skills in the areas of Operations Management, Customer Relationship Management, Strategic Management and Retail Management. These areas are of strong academic and practical interest for him. Jayesh graduated with a Masters Degree in the Management of Technology and Innovation from the Da Vinci Institute, having completed this qualification, Cum Laude.

Marlize Schwar

Marlize Schwar heads up the tenders team at Absa. The team is responsible for tenders across Corporate, Africa and public sector. Marlize has 10 yearsâ€™ experience in Credit in banking. She worked in the Enterprise Business environment for 3 years assisting SMEs to grow their businesses. She is a member of the Association of Proposal Management Professionals with Practitioner level accreditation. Marlize has a BCom (Hons) degree passed cum laude and a Masters degree in Business Leadership. She passed the International Cash Management Course through the Association of Corporate Treasurers in 2015. She has been an adjudicator for the Technology Top 100 awards for the past 6 years.

Mamohloding Tlhagale

Mamohloding is currently the Head of International Cooperation and Partnerships at the Water Research Commission (WRC) of South Africa. The portfolio includes the establishment of new and management of existing international partnerships that will benefit the South African water sector. The objectives of the WRC international strategy are to (1) facilitate and support research that will advise and inform policy decision making, (2) facilitate SA access to international resources, (3) attract foreign direct investment, (4) facilitate and coordinate water research collaborations and mobility, (5) increase participation in global projects/initiatives (6) facilitate transformation in the water sector and influence the global and continental water RDI agendas.

Prior to joining the WRC, she was the Director for Strategic Partnerships at the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST)where her role was to promote strategic international partnerships that will leverage international resources to strengthen South Africas science and technology capacities. The portfolio included securing financial and human resources from around the world, and access to world-class infrastructure that is lacking in the South African system. She has also been involved with the selection of potential research development and innovation (RDI) projects to qualify for European Union funding instrument of the DST and facilitating partnerships between the South African, other African and EU researchers. Before joining DST, she was a Medical Scientist and a Junior Lecturer of molecular biology and medical microbiology at the Medical University of Southern Africa (MEDUNSA).

Mamohloding has served as an adjudicator for the South African Technology Top100 (TT100) award since 2014. The awards recognise South African innovation excellence based on how they institutions manage the technology, people and system in their operations.

Mmbodi Rambau-Nesengani

Senior specialist Development Impact Support at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) one of the founding Partners of Startup Nations South Africa (SuNSA). The IDC has seconded her to SuNSA where she is responsible for the Programme Management of the activities.

Mmbodi s career of over 20 years spans across Tax, Audit and Risk management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship development. She worked in both the public and private sectors. She is also the Programme Manager of Startup Nations South Africa an affiliate of the Global Entrepreneurship Network which delivered the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in March 2017.

Desiree Vardhan

Desiree leads the sports coaching programme at the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) and is the driving force behind the establishment of the South African Coaching Framework and the recently recognized Professional body for Sports Coaching. She is the co-author of the SA Long Term Coach Development framework (LTCD), SA Sports for Life framework (SAS4L). She was influential in establishing the Masters degree programme for sports coaching at The Da Vinci Institution. She had also steered the recognition of prior learning assessments for sports coaching and the first Coach Developer programme for South Africa in 2011.

Csaba Varfalvi

Financial exec with broad experience in aspects of accounting, financial management and consulting, strategy formulation and business restructuring. Direct experience with entrepreneurial initiatives and venture capital raising. Interested in under-performing and start-up companies. Currently involved in various tech startups and incubation initiatives.

Abe Wakama

Abe Wakama (LLB) is the founder/CEO of IT News Africa (www.itnewsafrica.com) and publisher of African Innovator Magazine. With the help of a talented team of media professionals, he has grown his company into one of Africaâ€™s leading ICT business news sources. He has a solid understanding of African ICT business drivers and is well travelled across the continent.

Mr Wakama has built an invaluable network of leaders within the ICT business community and his opinions are highly regarded, evidenced by the numerous TV and radio interviews (BBC Radio, CNBC, AIT, SABC etc.), and industry conferences he has been asked to participate in.